World War Arc Team Mission 1 - Unova! *&#$ Yeah!

[Requiem of Whyspers]

Lykas was actually a bit surprised by his plan of action actually doing something useful. "Hey, Odd, can't you use some kind of a ghost arm deal?" The hybrid asked his boyfriend, the Channeler snapping out of his rage at the Flares for a moment when he was spoken to.

"Ramses Curse, ya." Odd replied, Cadenza releasing him from his psionic grip when Odd was no longer consumed by rage. "Why?"

"Can't you use it to grab multiple things at once? Or can you use it to move through stuff?" Lykas asked, thinking of another idea.

"Um... I know I can summon multiple arms at a time but I've never tried reach through something with them... Again; Why?" The Channeler replied, eyeing the Flares with a sort of hunger in his eyes.

"Think you could use it to disable the triggers on those mines?" Lykas asked, watching the Flares now as well.

"I'd have to understand how they work for that to even be a possibility, even if I could reach inside them. I stand a better chance of just picking them up without setting them off." He replied, pulling the sickle on his waist free and holding Wraith Harvest in hand as he summoned roughly half a dozen shadowy arms from his own. Reaching out with them, he attempted to pick up the closest mines, keeping himself a safe distance away in case they exploded. Should they not, he'd get an evil grin on his face and hurl them toward the far side of the trenches. The result ought to be a lot of Flares running toward them from the explosions, either into their own minefield or at the very least into a much easier-to-hit range.  

[Darksol88]

Sighing in relief when it appeared that they were mostly fine from the blasts, Amaranth recalled her Carbink and let Breeze back out so she could sit in relative safety atop the Togekiss' back. "Here, we'll follow you back to the ranch too. There... aren't too many landmines to worry about, are there? I don't think any of us want to discover them the hard way..." Despite her calm tone, it was apparent on her face that she was not prepared for this one bit and trying everything to keep nerves from getting to her. But then, how exactly does one prepare for anything like this?  

[Ms Edyn]

Night growled as she and Tatsu landed next to Crystal, "There is no reason good enough to warrant such destruction." She glared down at the cowards attempting to flee, her own eyes, once again, glowing pink as her temper rose, "That's not even counting that idiot who chose to throw the mines in the air. I say we just kill them all and be done with them."  

[Atlantis_Darts]

Reno Vantas

Aria would find herself looking over at the ranch hand as he spoke, derisively noting that her attempt to contribute to the healing efforts had been ignored. Scooping up her small pile, she instead chose to focus on the project at hand. "Look, as much as I would want to contribute to the destruction of fashion sense as we know it, I'd really rather not." Waving Vibrato over to the Mareep and the rancher, she would hop up onto her dragon as she gestured the civilian over. "Get on board. Vibrato will pick up your Mareep in his claws and we can get you back home. That work for you?"

Darksol88

Sighing in relief when it appeared that they were mostly fine from the blasts, Amaranth recalled her Carbink and let Breeze back out so she could sit in relative safety atop the Togekiss' back. "Here, we'll follow you back to the ranch too. There... aren't too many landmines to worry about, are there? I don't think any of us want to discover them the hard way..." Despite her calm tone, it was apparent on her face that she was not prepared for this one bit and trying everything to keep nerves from getting to her. But then, how exactly does one prepare for anything like this?

The ranch hand had seen Aria's attempt to heal the Mareep, and took that as a good sign that these people were at least somewhat trustworthy. "Mmm..." He says, scratching at his slightly scruffy beard. "As far as we can tell they haven't made it to the ranch yet, so it should be landmine-free relatively speaking."

"Relatively." Darts grunts with a halfhearted chuckle as he wills his wings into existence. "That's heartening." He turns to Sub and the rest of the group. "We'll try and rendezvous inside Virbank somewhere with you guys. I'm not going to be the one to tell y'all to stay out of trouble. Twould be hypocritical." And with that, the trio set off in the direction of Floccesy Ranch, the purportedly landmine-free farm.

Requiem of Whyspers

Lykas was actually a bit surprised by his plan of action actually doing something useful. "Hey, Odd, can't you use some kind of a ghost arm deal?" The hybrid asked his boyfriend, the Channeler snapping out of his rage at the Flares for a moment when he was spoken to.

"Ramses Curse, ya." Odd replied, Cadenza releasing him from his psionic grip when Odd was no longer consumed by rage. "Why?"

"Can't you use it to grab multiple things at once? Or can you use it to move through stuff?" Lykas asked, thinking of another idea.

"Um... I know I can summon multiple arms at a time but I've never tried reach through something with them... Again; Why?" The Channeler replied, eyeing the Flares with a sort of hunger in his eyes.

"Think you could use it to disable the triggers on those mines?" Lykas asked, watching the Flares now as well.

"I'd have to understand how they work for that to even be a possibility, even if I could reach inside them. I stand a better chance of just picking them up without setting them off." He replied, pulling the sickle on his waist free and holding Wraith Harvest in hand as he summoned roughly half a dozen shadowy arms from his own. Reaching out with them, he attempted to pick up the closest mines, keeping himself a safe distance away in case they exploded. Should they not, he'd get an evil grin on his face and hurl them toward the far side of the trenches. The result ought to be a lot of Flares running toward them from the explosions, either into their own minefield or at the very least into a much easier-to-hit range.

Picking up all of the mines without detonating some of them would take a master-class level of concentration and mental focus, so some of them explode rather harmlessly in the grip of the more unattended mentally shadow arms, but the others do manage to be pulled free of the ground and successfully flung, sending the few Flare Grunts dumb enough to have stayed this long scampering back into town past the military cordon they had set up at the edge of Virbank. The mines explode as they pelt down on the abandoned trenches, blowing big holes in the spools of crimson barbed wire wherever they touch. The only Flare Grunts still outside the gates now...

Espeon_Commander

"Demon Wing, go in. After them." The Charizard would turn to his trainer and give her a look before obeying her order, diving in while sending various blasts of fire at the gathering of grunts fleeing. Finally, when they were close enough to the ground, she would squirm out of her dragon's grasp and land gracefully on the ground, going back to holding her braid and eyes still glowing blue. "So, you lot. Tell me, why are you all making this land ugly and harmful to the locals, and I might spare you learning how those explosions feel first hand. And please try to make it a good reason."

Ms Edyn

Night growled as she and Tatsu landed next to Crystal, "There is no reason good enough to warrant such destruction." She glared down at the cowards attempting to flee, her own eyes, once again, glowing pink as her temper rose, "That's not even counting that idiot who chose to throw the mines in the air. I say we just kill them all and be done with them."

TerashiLeonGoken

I couldn't help but look at the landmines sticking out of the ground from Yuki's Electric Terrain. "We need to find a way to blow up those mines that doesn't hurt anyone. Or at least get rid of them somehow," I said to myself, but loud enough for Keiko and the other Snagems to hear.

"Do you think Rala could lift them out of the ground and to a harmless location?" Keiko asked, going for the obvious solution.

"I'm not sure that she'd be able to get all of them out in at once," was my only response, trying to come up with a way to solve the solution immediately.

"Well, we're not exactly alone, here," Keiko said, referrring to the Snagems that had joined us in our quest.

"True, but we tend to have different solutions to the same problem," I responded, admittedly a little inconsiderate of the group. "Besides, there's more than one problem, here."

"Well, yeah, but..." Keiko started to say. She intended to explain that the team generally got results as a whole, but something about my behavior was throwing her off.

"Wait, different solutions..." I muttered, an idea forming in my head. Between two Hurricanes and an Ominous Wind, the natural wind blowing through the area should have increased in speed at least a little bit. Deciding to act upon this inspiration, I let Sauron out of his ball. "Sauron, try to spread your Stun Spore on the enemy in front of you. We need to pacify the Flare Grunts if we're ever going to get rid of the landmines in this area for good."

Keiko hugged me, relieved that I found a non-violent solution to our problem, as Sauron scattered his Stun Spores to the enhanced wind in the area, hopefully covering the entirety of the trenches.

The few Grunts that had accosted Benga nearest the team had just about run out of luck, being trapped between Crystal and a very angry Demon Wing and a bloodthirsty Night with vengeance on her mind. Luckily (for them) the Stun Spore carried across from the wind currents floats across the group, catching their limbs and numbing their tongues with the powerful paralysis agent. "'Ee jusht wante beautifur..." Is all the Admin of the group manages to get out as an explanation to the Espeon hybrid before collapsing immobilized in a heap with the other members of his squad. Counting his vivid white Admin uniform there was more than enough for the rest of the team here...

SubonicXP

By the time the others started to act further Sub had already stripped a Flare grunt down to absolutely nothing, taking even his underwear. Was that necessary? No. Was he wearing the grunt's underwear? Also no. Why did he remove the underwear then? Because he felt like it. "I got to say, wearing this gives me a sense of unearned self importance and tribal belonging. It is also an affront to Lumiosian high fashion. How they haven't been lynched by the masses yet for their fashion heresy I don't know." Sub remarked, topping off the uniform with a pair of red shades he had just wiped clean.

His Hydreigon on the other was staring at the knock out grunts hungrily, easy and fresh meat.

Not that Sub needed any help, decked out in the gear he made an exact ringer for an up and coming Flare Grunt. Not only did he fit in, but he made that look good~

Blizzard120

I perked up, looked around, and while my Reflect barrier took damage, I was still up and standing. I was alive? I then looked by near me, seeing the Carbink with its own protective shield, and the King's Shield courtesy of the Aegislash. What at first felt like a miracle and a testament to my progress in improving...turned out to be me getting bailed out again in this regard. Honestly? It's something I can live with; a notion punctuated with a sigh of relief. "Of course we're not on his level...we're past that." I said, staring at Benga. "For the record, my son and I are the reason Alder still has his Volcorona right now and not underfoot of a Cobalion. Seriously, hell of a thing to say to your saviors right now." I told him.

Benga shrugs. "I'm sure Alder is greatful, but really at the moment I think we've got bigger problems than a level-measuring competition." Taking in Sub's disguise, the youth nods. "That's perfect. I'm sure they're on the lookout for me, so we can use capturing me as an easy ruse. No matter what the Grunts that just ran inside say they won't all be positive what they are looking for out here, especially in the middle of an invasion. A couple more disguises a couple more prisoners and we should be able to slip inside relatively easily. We should prioritize finding Roxie if we can... As the closest Gym Leader, she's got a direct line to the rest of the Unova League... including Alder." He mutters the last little bit, crossing his arms and shooting Blizz a sidelong glance.  

[Reno Vantas]

Aria would look over at her new passenger for a moment to level a deadpan stare before giving a quick spur to Vibrato to get the Noivern into the air. It would only take a moment for them to sweep around and grab the Mareep as they flew by again. "Well, I could try vibrating them out if you ended up with any at your farm. Can't hurt." Aria told the ranch hand, looking over to her passenger as they moved in the direction he had indicated. Hopefully they would end up without anything major there to contend with.  

[Darksol88]

"I think I missed something too..." Amaranth said to herself, hearing Blizzard's comments and seeing him walk off to seemingly scout ahead. Then, opting to keep with the few escorting the ranch hand and Mareep, she and Breeze would head onward. Hopefully, there wouldn't be sudden news about stuff blowing up and people ending up really badly hurt if they were still alive to tell about it.  

[Requiem of Whyspers]

Lykas watched as Odd hurled their own bombs at the Flares, looking rather surprised that the Channeler would pull something like that off. "OK..." He decided aloud. "You need to calm down for a bit and see if we can't get through to Virbank. I have the same problem as Blizz. They'd never let a hybrid join their ranks but you could pass yourself off as one of the Flares and use me as a 'prisoner' that was resisting the invasion." He suggested to Odd.

"Take me, too! If these lot are trying to take over Unova, it's just a matter of time for them to reach Lentimas and I'm not letting that happen!" The drealock'd male from earlier exclaimed when he heard Benga and Lykas discussing essentially identical plans. "I'm from here. I know information they might want to try and get from me. Use that as an excuse for taking me if you want? I don't care. I just know there are people in that town that I do business with and they've already hurt my business partners here." Looking down at the Cacnea still at his feet, the man's eyes slowly rose up to look the damage already done to the area. "The plant life here will take months...maybe even years to recover from this... " He realized. "As soon as this is over, we need to help the recovery." He told his partner Pokemon.

"Cac!" Hemlock replied.

Odd listened to both Lykas and Benga. "Fine. I want to make these freaks pay for attacking innocent people like this but I shouldn't just charge in blindly..." He agreed, hanging his head for a moment. When the brunet with the dreadlocks spoke up, however, he'd glare at him. "You'll get yourself killed out there and if you do, I'm not performing last rights!"

"ODD!" Lykas snapped. "Seriously! Get your anger under control and don't be mean!" The hybrid growled at him. "The man wants to defend his home region. We can't stop him from doing so. All we can do is help him stay alive and do our part to achieve our shared objective." He reminded the Channeler. "My name is Lykas. The angry one is Odd. If you're willing to fight beside us, can I ask your name?"

The man stopped for a moment when Odd barked at him and was immediately cowed by the younger hybrid. He seemed to hesitate to continue insisting he go with them for a moment before remembering his business partners. "My name is Wren. Wren Briony." He finally introduced himself.

"Alright, Wren. If you're going to join the fight, stay safe!" Lykas insisted, watching as Odd carefully moved over to the pile of paralyzed Flares and eyed their uniforms.

He had to admit he liked the white one most but he was certainly not someone who liked taking the role of leader if he had a choice. So he opted to take one of the red-clad morons' clothes instead. "I could take your souls in a heartbeat, you know." He warned them, clipping Wraith Harvest to his waist for the moment. It didn't take too long before the Snagems' resident necromancer was in a Flare disguise. Recalling Cadenza back to his ball, the Channeler released Treble and had the Ghost-type pick him up in his ribbons. "Coming, Lykas?" He asked the hybrid.

"Ya! On my way." Lykas agreed. "We'll meet you on the other side of this if you want to keep going." The blue-skinned male told Wren, pointing over his shoulder to the mine field with the more visible pathway through it made clear. "Remember. Don't die if you want to help."

Wren froze up for a moment when Lykas ran off and joined Odd in the grip of the latter's Ghost-type, floating over the bombs without a care. "Cac cac?" Hemlock asked, tugging on his parts' leg. "I-I-I'm okay." Wren assured the little Cacnea. "I can do this!" He was sure of it. "Just go into your ball for safety's sake." He told his little companion, recalling him to his Pokeball before he started to slowly walk through the cleared path. His bare feet could feel the soggy soil and the slippery surface of the grass but he kept his footing and made it through without too much delay.  

[Atlantis_Darts]

Blizzard120

"....." I stared at Benga, rather irritated. This guy reminds me the unfortunate part about this job...at times, it can be rather thankless. Be that as it may, if someone wasn't going to say anything positive; I'd rather nothing to be said at all instead of being told you're less than someone else after being saved by said 'lesser person'.

Freth finally made her way over towards me, looking towards Benga, then back at me, noting the irritated look on my face. "You alright?" Freth asked.

"If that kid gets in trouble again like just now, I'm just going to leave him to die." I said.

".......I missed something." Freth said.

"Yes. You did." I then stared in confusion as Sub was trying to get dolled up for the excursion to come. "Excuse me if I am not going to take part in that; not that it would matter in my case." I said. "I'll just...scout ahead or something." I said, going on ahead. Freth watched me walk off then gave a shrug herself. Perhaps this wasn't the best time to ask. She then followed suit, following me.

Freth and Blizz, assuming they went a different way than the rest of the group to separate themselves would see more trenches and more minefields being dug on all sides of the city in order to pen it in. In addition there were more Flare Grunts. LOTS more Flare Grunts. More Flare personnel in general, from the Admins showing up as blots of snow-white amongst the groups of red to... A shocking shade of blue in the Virbank Complex to the south end of the city. Surrounded by high chain link fence and topped with barbed wire of the regular variety, Blizz and Freth would spot a Flare scientist sporting a fashionable blue visor strapped to her eyes, matching her delicately coiffed 'do.

"Come on now, pick up the pace!" Mable demands, tapping her foot anxiously as she orders about the rank and file around her, the Grunts trying to simultaneously sluice oil and other fuel into transportable barrels out of the various warehouses littering the docks while not spilling any on their fancy suits. "The second wave is going to be arriving any minute and we're going to need the delicious energy in these fossil fuels by the time they arrive, so move it!"

SubonicXP

Sub wouldn't waste any time getting into character as he scoffed at Benga, turning his nose up at the boy as he walked over towards him, giving him a light nudge on his shoulder with his finger tips, as if touching something disgusting. "That's enough, chien! It is time we take you in for beautification. Though I doubt miracles can be performed, even with glorieux Flare technology and sophistication." He sneered, wiping his finger tips on a neckerchief he found in one of the uniform's pockets. "Allons-y! Move!" He demanded, lowering his shades briefly to wink at Benga.

TerashiLeonGoken

Keiko, on the other hand, disrobed a female grunt and had Natalia teleport her away from the group, to return shortly after wearing a Flare uniform. She would stand beside the disguised Sub after recalling Natalia but say nothing, anxious to get this mission over with.

Requiem of Whyspers

He had to admit he liked the white one most but he was certainly not someone who liked taking the role of leader if he had a choice. So he opted to take one of the red-clad morons' clothes instead. "I could take your souls in a heartbeat, you know." He warned them, clipping Wraith Harvest to his waist for the moment. It didn't take too long before the Snagems' resident necromancer was in a Flare disguise. Recalling Cadenza back to his ball, the Channeler released Treble and had the Ghost-type pick him up in his ribbons. "Coming, Lykas?" He asked the hybrid.

"Ya! On my way." Lykas agreed. "We'll meet you on the other side of this if you want to keep going." The blue-skinned male told Wren, pointing over his shoulder to the mine field with the more visible pathway through it made clear. "Remember. Don't die if you want to help."

Meanwhile, the group of 'Flares' and their captives will be gearing up to move through the military cordon checkpoint. The guards are suspicious as the group pulls up to the edge of town, a Admin in a white shirt holding out a hand as he looks down at a checklist. "Halt! Halt! Arrête, s'il-te-plaît..." He demands, his red sunglasses flashing as he looks the supposed prisoners up and down briefly for a moment before coming face to face with Sub. "Where is your groups administrator, monsieur...?" He pauses, clearly wanting Sub or Odd to fill in the blank name-wise, his head swiveling between the two of them as he glances up from behind his clipboard, ignoring the captives for the moment.

Darksol88

"I think I missed something too..." Amaranth said to herself, hearing Blizzard's comments and seeing him walk off to seemingly scout ahead. Then, opting to keep with the few escorting the ranch hand and Mareep, she and Breeze would head onward. Hopefully, there wouldn't be sudden news about stuff blowing up and people ending up really badly hurt if they were still alive to tell about it.

Reno Vantas

Aria would look over at her new passenger for a moment to level a deadpan stare before giving a quick spur to Vibrato to get the Noivern into the air. It would only take a moment for them to sweep around and grab the Mareep as they flew by again. "Well, I could try vibrating them out if you ended up with any at your farm. Can't hurt." Aria told the ranch hand, looking over to her passenger as they moved in the direction he had indicated. Hopefully they would end up without anything major there to contend with.

The trio still on the far outskirts of town, counting Darts, manage to deliver the old rancher home to his wife, and Sheeple was just fine too. The old man was laying it on pretty thick about his tale of daring dos and none of the Snagems had had the heart to correct him about his heroism or lack thereof.

"Oh you guys are just precious..." The old wife coos, pinching Amaranth on the cheek lightly before seeing them out the door of the main barn, laden despite their protests with an ample supply of sweet tea and pecan pie, having pressed a frosted bottle of the first on each of them and three slices of the other in a basket that Aria had been forced to hold. "Don't be strangers now, ya hear?"

"Hmmm. What do you know. Unovan hospitality is nice in the southern part of this region. Who knew?" Darts asks, quick to discard the bottle of tea by tossing it to Amaranth as soon as they were out of eyeshot of the old lady. He may not have wanted to offend the old meemaw but it would be a cold day in the Distortion World before you caught this jacketed gambler letting one drop of tea touch his lips. "At least that was a nice and easy..." There's a sudden whistling sound as a shape moving at the speed of a meteor SLAMS into the ground out of the sky in front of the trio, causing another loud explosion from the impact and throwing up a conspicuous shroud of dust high into the air. Anyone who could sense chi would get a burst of Ghost-type energy provided they were close enough.

"Where are the Go-goggles when you need them...?" Darts complains, squinting his eyes in a vain attempt to see through the thick cloud of dirt.